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Facebook tests Trending topics section on its news feed (Digit)
Facebook has started testing a “trending” topics section in its homepage news feed that is similar to its rival Twitter’s “trends box” that showcases topics that are popular on the site. According to a recent WSJ report, the trending column will appear on the right hand side of the Facebook News Feed. The column will highlight all the topics which are currently popular on the site, including hashtags which the company rolled out in June this year. The more people will mention a particular hashtag or topic the more its chances of being displayed on the Trending topics column.

Security researcher gets a $12,500 bounty from Facebook (Inquirer)
A Security Researcher has found a flaw in Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) that lets hackers delete photos from other people’s walls. Arul Kumar, a 21 year old Indian engineer, has posted about his experience on his blog. He said that initially Facebook denied that it was a problem, but then, having seen a video proof of concept and tested the flaw, it changed its mind and agreed to pay the security bug bounty. “I would like to share one of Critical Bug in facebook which leads to delete any photo from facebook without user interaction,” he wrote.

Facebook peer groups may be useful for HIV education (GMA News)
Groups on the popular networking site Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) may help educate men about HIV prevention and testing, a new study suggests. Researchers found that specially-created Facebook social media groups helped encourage men who have sex with men to reach out for information about testing themselves at home for HIV. The study is “really demonstrating a way to take what we already know to be effective… and translating it into the digital realm,” Sheana Bull, professor and chair of the Department of Community and Behavioral Health at the Colorado School of Public Health in Denver, said.

How Facebook, Twitter and other startups got big (MarketWatch)
In 2012, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) spent $1.6 billion on advertising expenses. Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB), meanwhile, spent $67 million. Who knows what Facebook will spend this year — but it will certainly be less than Microsoft’s reported $2.6 billion expenditures for 2013. Of course, these companies are not exactly in the same business. Microsoft also crushes Facebook with its revenue. But I make this point to say less about Microsoft and more to say something about Facebook and businesses like it. One is the old model of selling and growing, and the other is something very new. How could Facebook do so much with so little? In the last three years, spending a combined total of just $100 million in marketing and advertising expenses, Facebook grew to more than one billion users from 600 million.

Facebook aims for piece of big TV ad budgets (Phys.Org)
Even before Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) begins displaying splashy video ads, it’s preparing for a backlash from users like Amy Pittel. The 44-year-old writer and stay-at-home mother from Livermore, Calif., says she’s weary of being bombarded by ads on Facebook and the rest of the Internet, most of which she ignores. “I shall continue to do as I always have when an unwanted video ad or commercial comes on: check my email or another Web page until the ad is finished,” Pittel said. So why would Facebook risk alienating its 1.1 billion users? It’s betting it can finally crack open that big pot of dollars that marketers spend on television. Advertisers are expected to shell out $205 billion on TV commercials this year, dwarfing what they spend online and on mobile devices.

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